About the Play:

Bodies, Rest and Motion is a full-length drama by Roger Hedden. Concerned with two days in the lives of four people in their late 20s who have yet to find their paths in life, Bodies, Rest and Motion combines humour and telling insights with incisive dialogue to illuminate the frustrations and lack of purpose which beset so many caught between dissolving illusions and the quest for something better.

Bodies, Rest and Motion takes its title from Isaac Newton's first law of motion – the proposition that bodies in rest or motion stay that way until acted on by an outside force – and that a generational metaphor seems to control the lives of Nick, Beth, Carol, and Sid, four very ordinary people. The place is the living room of a small and rather rundown house in Enfield, Connecticut, shared by Nick and his live-in girlfriend, Beth. Rootless and undecided about what to do with their lives, Nick, fired from his TV salesman job, plans to move them to Canton, Ohio, mainly because he saw a brochure once declaring it "The City of the Future." As they pack for the move, they each say their individual goodbyes to Carol, who is Nick's ex-girlfriend and Beth's only confidant. But then, and abruptly, Nick takes off – alone – for parts unknown. Left in the lurch, Beth shares a brief but fervid affair with Sid, an enlightened house painter sent to prepare their home for new renters. But while Sid quickly begins to take their relationship seriously, Beth does not, and echoing Nick, she sells the furniture (except for the colour TV Nick copped from his former employer) and vanishes without a goodbye. When Nick, having had a change of heart, returns, it is to an empty house which, in a very real way, symbolizes the inertia and rootlessness that have brought them all to where and what they are. As the play ends Nick drifts back into a relationship with Carol, while Sid, abandoning his buckets and brushes, goes off in search of Beth. But the lesson of Bodies, Rest and Motion is that nothing has really changed, nor will it until those involved find something to truly believe in and pursue.

Bodies, Rest and Motion premiered in 1986 at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre of Lincoln Center in New York City. Since then the play has been successfully staged at several professional and college theatres.

Cast: 5 female, 4 male (several roles may be doubled)

What people say:

"The voice of a talented young playwright is a precious but fragile phenomenon." — The New York Times

"…engrossing, amusing, even poignant. An authority and sharpness to Roger Hedden's writing bodes well." — New York Daily News

"…an offbeat sense of humor and a personal vision." — Backstage

About the Playwright:

Roger Hedden is an American playwright. His plays have been produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre, Naked Angels, Atlantic Theater Company, Montana Rep, and Florida Stage, among others. He is a graduate of Columbia University and was the recipient of an N.E.A. Playwriting Fellowship. He was the playwright in residence at the Montana Rep.